Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Arizona State University, 2020
  • M.Tech., Structural Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, 2013
  • B.Tech., Civil Engineering, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, India, 2010
Licenses & Certifications
  • 40-Hour Hazardous Waste Operation and Emergency Response Certification (HAZWOPER) (CA)

Dr. Saklani specializes in solid and computational mechanics, focusing on the fracture behavior of materials. He has experience in the design, evaluation, and failure analysis of civil structures and mechanical equipment for industries spanning the disciplines of civil, mechanical, and nuclear engineering.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Saklani worked as a Structural Analyst at Holtec International. His responsibility included structural/stress qualification of lifting cranes and ancillaries, storage and transport casks, and underwater storage racks used to manage spent nuclear fuel. He evaluated these components under normal operating, seismic, fatigue, drop, and tornado wind and missile conditions in accordance with ASME-BPV, AISC, ASCE, and ACI codes utilizing the strength of materials and computational mechanics approach.

In the past, Dr. Saklani developed computational constitutive codes for finite element analysis. He added capabilities for fracture, aging viscoelasticity, aleatory uncertainty, and hygrothermal analysis of concrete in a C++ based multiphysics finite element code, MOOSE framework. He utilized these codes to predict the damage initiation and quantification in concrete structures subjected to radiation, high temperature, and low relative humidity.